Pediatric Nursing Demystified

(^92) Pediatric Nursing Demystified

Overview

The heart is a hollow working muscle responsible for pumping blood through

the body to provide oxygen and nutrients to the cells. A child’s heart is about

the size of his or her fist and beats faster than that of an adult. Heart rate slows

from birth to adolescence when the rate is similar to the adult rate. The car-

diovascular system includes the heart and blood vessels. The hematologic

system involves the blood and organs that produce blood. Blood is needed to

carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells and must be structurally sound and

adequate in amount to ensure the health and proper functioning of the body.

The heart is a hollow muscle with four chambers: two atria and two ven-

tricles. The right atria and ventricle receive blood from the body by way of the

veins and the inferior and superior vena cava and move it to the lungs by way

of the pulmonary arteries. The left atria and ventricle of the heart receive blood

from the lungs and move blood out to the brain via the aorta and out to the

arteries of the body. Valves, the aortic, pulmonary, mitral, and tricuspid, are

Left coronary artery

Anterior view of the heart

Mitral valve

Clrcumflex

artery

Aortic valve

Oblique

marginal

artery

Diagonal

arteries

Left anterior

descending

artery

Acute marginal

artery

Right coronary

artery

Tricuspid

valve

Pulmonary

valve

FIGURE 6-1